Lance Gummere on Slider Night at Bantam & Biddy

Moving forward with Slider Power Hour, here's Lance Gummere of Bantam & Biddy. A little back story: Gummere started Slider Night at the Shed at Glenwood years ago. When he left the restaurant to open Bantam & Biddy with Shaun Doty, the Shed's new executive chef Todd Richards took it over. Then, Richards announced last month that the Shed would be swapping the weekly $3 slider event for a new Wednesday fried chicken night. When he got word, Gummere decided to pick it back up in his new digs in Ansley Mall. Got all that? Below, Gummere clears a few things up.

How did slider night get started in the first place?
Three or four years ago, we were in a recession and I was trying to think of a promotion to get people into the seats. We decided on sliders, and it go so popular that we couldn' stop. We were a new restaurant, we were trying to get established— you do what you have to do.

Why did you bring it to Bantam & Biddy?
I get two questions all the time. The first one is what's it like working with Shaun again, and the second is when are you going to sliders? I'm having a very Jimmy Stewart moment, something that was once tedious and grinding has been a whole new light for me. On the first Monday that we started, I looked into the kitchen and all the cooks were smiling. That never happens

Did y'all talk about the Shed about moving slider night?
There was no communication. We read that they stopped doing it, and Shaun and I looked at each other and said that we have to do it. We said, we should pick this up— It's an opportunity.

What are your favorites?
My favorites are the ones that never sell. We do a White Oak Pastures beef tongue with salsa verde. The crowd pleasers are things like pork belly, local mozzarella cheese with basil pesto.

Any future plans you're looking forward to?
We do 13 different ones each week, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and the classics. The only thing that's set in stone is that I know I'm always going to have chicken. And I've been shooting a lot of squirrels lately, so we'll see what happens with that...

Walk me through the perfect slider meal?
The perfect slider meal. I would do one classic, like a croque monsieur or BLT— those are what they are, you know? Then one that's a little more esoteric, something strange or culinary like heart or tongue. And finally one with vegetables so that you have something healthy.
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